One popular style in interior design is to insert grommets in tops of decorative panels, such as drapes, curtains, room dividers or shower curtains and hang them by sliding support elements, such as drapery poles, rods or ropes, through the grommets. The grommets are usually made of metal with inside diameters thereof being larger than the diameters of the support elements, mostly 3/4"-2". Feeding the support element, alternating from a front and from a back, through the grommets creates decorative folds in the panel. The panel can be moved back and forth on the support element and gathered in a bunch at one or both ends of the support element, for example at a side of a window or door opening.
Two conventional ways are known for attaching grommets to panels.
One uses an industrial tape with side by side grommets at preset spacings thereon. The tape is sewn to an upper edge of a panel, and becomes an extension of the panel, so that the panel stays below the grommets and leaves the grommets open for feeding the support elements therethrough. This construction leaves the tape with its raw, "technical" structure to be visible at the top of the panel. This look is rather unsightly, as the tape does not match the material, color and design, of most decorative panels.
Another method tries to overcome these disadvantages. In this method the grommets are punched directly into the panel either by hand or mechanically. However, this is time consuming and expensive, as this procedure requires several steps. The panel has to be doubled at the top by folding it over. Most often an additional stiffening material has to be sewn or fused in for stability and to prevent the panel material from fraying, being pulled out from the grommet or being cut at the edge of the grommet. This is especially true with thin delicate fabrics, which often require, with this method, additional protective washers. In accompanying steps, locations of the grommets have to be measured and marked over a whole width of the panel for even spacing and exact alignment. Then the grommets are punched in individually. When the grommets are hit to be punched, they often get scratches and dents, which diminishes their appearance. All these production steps, especially the manual ones, have to be performed with accuracy to justify the price of such an expensive product.
Both methods cannot avoid that the metal surfaces of the grommets scratch the surface of the support element, which can be a painted or polished drapery pole.
In shower curtains the plastic or plasticized material of the panels sometimes frays, very often being cut at, or ripped out of, the grommets.
The disadvantages mentioned above in the state of the art are eliminated by the present invention.